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The night before I left I realized I couldn't move into my dorm because a) I was arriving a day too early and b) I didn't have the tuberculosis test which was required to move in. With some late night e-mails and some clutch friend favors (thanks Theresa) I was able to figure things out. I would stay at my friend's apartment in Hongdae for two nights and get my TB test the day after I arrived. Despite my lack of attention to detail, everything went smoothly after those two wrinkles were ironed out. The flight itself turned out to be better than I thought. I was served copious amounts of coffee, some wine, and a few meals. There was also a solid selection of movies to choose from. Overall, the 14 hours on Korean Air from JFK to Seoul went by much more comfortably than expected.
When I got to Seoul it was cold. I was in Boston before I came, so I thought I would be prepared but I was very wrong (I later realized I was arriving during one of the coldest weeks of winter). After taking the airport train into Hongdae, I had to find and get into my friend's apartment. I was looking for a "big hill". When I found the hill, I immediately regretted it. In the freezing weather, I lugged my ~80 lbs (~35kg) of luggage up the hill to my warm, one room resting place. Once I hit the sheets I passed out for ~12 hours. The next day I got my TB test, met up with Theresa, and got an informal tour of Hongdae (first Lotteria burger). That night, for the first time, I watched the GSL stream live at a time where I was actually awake. The next day classes started and I was finally able to move into the dorm. I picked up my test results (spoiler: I don't have TB), went back to Hongdae, and moved into SK Global House at Yonsei University.
This is where I'll be for the next 5 months. Since those crazy first days, I've spent a lot of time exploring Sinchon and Hongdae. By "exploring" I mean getting food with other international students (mostly Australians) and inevitably drinking and going to the clubs and/or noraebangs. I went to a few PC bangs, but I'm not totally used to playing Starcraft in a room full of Koreans playing FPS or League of Legends (though I do like having a comfortable chair and snacks nearby). I've had a lot of great food (BBQ, and more!) and I've met some awesome people. Most of them will be leaving in two weeks when the winter semester ends and that will be sad. But a few will be staying through the spring. I've also been studying (of course) and I plan on taking the level 2 Korean language course when the semester starts on March 1. I have some short term goals which I will continuously update along with my posts!
Goals:
[ ] Go to live GSL, SSL, and Proleague events
[ ] Reach Masters with Protoss on KR ladder
[ ] Place into the Level 2 Korean class
[ ] Get back into Taekwondo
[ ] Write semi-regular TL blog posts!
[ ] ...I'll think of more later...
(Side note: I wasn't going to post this on TL initially because I'm fairly embarrassed at the quality/content of my old blog posts (which is part of the reason I stopped posting in the first place. I figured it would be easy for friends to find those weird old posts, but I suppose at the time those thoughts were important enough for me to want to record them. In the end, I chose TL because Starcraft is one of the things that brought me to Korea and there's no other community I'm more attached to. <3)
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Awesome! Sounds like you're going to have a blast and have alot to do, I'm sure the five months will probably fly by. Keep the updates coming.
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Pandemona
Charlie Sheens House51484 Posts
Wow sounds like you are having a blast! So jealous, if you can maybe add pictures that would be awesome for us nerds who cant get there yet
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Rofl. I'm taking a semester abroad at Yonsei this spring. Will be staying at SK Global House as well. Check-in for the spring semester is on the 23rd, but I arrive in Seoul a week before because a friend hooked me up with a place to stay.
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man i wanna do this too please let me live vicariously through these blogs Ok
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Canada16699 Posts
thanks for your blog.
i could barely string together an english paragraph when i started "writing C&C coverage" for GameReplays.org.... don't be embarassed dude... just keep on improving.
as is... even if u remain at ur current level of writing i'll gladly read about your experiences in south korea in blog form on here.
and in case you are wondering.. i don't have TB either.
On February 05 2016 13:09 TheGloob wrote:
I went to a few PC bangs, but I'm not totally used to playing Starcraft in a room full of Koreans playing FPS or League of Legends (though I do like having a comfortable chair and snacks nearby).
once you return to the USA if you want to recreate your Seoul experience just go to Toronto. Same weather and internet cafes filled with koreans playing LoL.
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On February 05 2016 20:59 Alur wrote:
Rofl. I'm taking a semester abroad at Yonsei this spring. Will be staying at SK Global House as well. Check-in for the spring semester is on the 23rd, but I arrive in Seoul a week before because a friend hooked me up with a place to stay.
Dude we should totally meet up and go to a PC bang or something!
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I'm down. I'll PM you when I've checked in at SKGH.
I haven't played starcraft in years though, so I'll be legit bad, but who cares.
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I'm landing in Seoul on the 29th of February, if anyone is interested in going to the Nexon Arena to see the matches of the day. Some great matches that day - Samsung vs. SKT and CJE vs. Jin Air.
Totally down to grab to some food/go to a PCBang or whatever.
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That night, for the first time, I watched the GSL stream live at a time where I was actually awake.
The dream. Keep us updated! 
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